Blues artist Eli Cook to perform at the Rio Grande Theatre Oct. 13

Named one of the top three solo blues artists worldwide by the UK’s Blues Matters! magazine, Eli Cook will bring his trademark husky voice to the Rio Grande Theatre on Saturday, Oct. 13.

Cook, 32, will perform songs from the six albums he released before he turned 30 and from his latest album “High-Dollar Gospel.”

While Cook has toured the northern part of New Mexico, this will be his first time visiting the southern part of the state. Cook took up the guitar as a teenager in the Blue Ridge foothills of Virginia. Following the tradition of the great blues men, he started out performing in churches and late-night gospel revivals with only his acoustic and deep baritone voice at just 16 — he was still too young for the bars.

“Initially I was just interested in picking up the acoustic guitar, but to perform out, I needed to sing,” Cook said.

Cook said the blues is a niche genre of music that attracts a certain audience — those who may have grown up with the blues or classic rock. But Cook has seen a shift in who attends his shows, he said.

“In recent years, there seems to have been a push to make older genres hip, which wasn’t the case when I started touring 15 years ago,” Cook said.

Shaped by his youth, blues was a natural adaptation to what Cook heard as a child.

“Where I grew up, it was a rural agrarian community and the oldies station played 50s and 60s music, and my parents record collection — the generation buying vinyl — (were) things that were blues influenced, like the Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Muddy Waters. I was exposed to it, whether I may have wanted to be or not,” he joked.

While Cook may have been a generation or two removed from the music he loved, he’s made it his goal to master the sound.

“One good thing when you get into it — when you’re a teenager and your technically proficient enough — as far as reviews go, you get the term 'prodigy,' which I don’t really like," Cook said. "But you do stand out in an odd field, so it was a benefit."

Cook recorded and released six albums between 2004 and 2014. First was the all-original acoustic album “Miss Blues’es Child” and a heavy blues-rock release called “Electricholyfirewater.”

During this time, Cook was invited to open for B.B. King on King’s east coast tour. Since then, he has shared the stage with Johnny Winter, Robert Cray, Parliament-Funkadellic, Gary Clark JR, Taj Mahal, John Mayal and many others.

In 2011, Cook released “Ace Jack & King," a return to roots blues and heavy guitars. He then followed it up with a fifth studio album in 2014 called “Primitive Son," which featured guest appearances by Tinsley Ellis, Reese Wynans of Double Trouble, rock legend Leslie West of Mountain and Artimus Pyle of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

He’s grown as an artist with each album, crafting lyrics that speak to authentic situations in his life so listeners can relate to the words and feel a connection.

“I used to paint with as broad of a brush as I could — generalities that weren’t too specific,” Cook said. “It’s a hybrid, and walking that balance between personal inspiration and relaying it in a way where people can latch on and identify with it.”